Votes for Women

After generations of struggle for suffrage, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed in 1919 and ratified in August of 1920, giving women the right to vote for the first time. African American women were denied equal access to the ballot and had to fight for the right to vote until the 1960s. The National Museum of African American History and Culture shares five African American suffragists you should know.

To celebrate the centennial anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States, Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence, is open at the National Portrait Gallery March 29, 2019 – January 5, 2020. Votes for Women features more than 120 portraits and objects spanning 1832 to 1965 that explore the American suffrage movement and the political challenges women faced.